Baton Rouge General loosening visitation policy for surgery patients

The following information is from Baton Rouge General:

BATON ROUGE, La. - Starting today (Monday, May 18), Baton Rouge General is loosening its visitation policy for surgery patients. Like all area hospitals, BRG has had a no-visitor policy in place since the end of March, but now all patients undergoing surgery can have one visitor with them for a portion of their stay.

“Taking care for our patients without the support of loved ones is not how we were trained or how we’re used to practicing nursing and medicine, and it’s been a major adjustment for everyone,” said Monica Nijoka, Chief Nursing Officer at Baton Rouge General. “Having someone here is important to our patients and family members, and we’re happy to be able to begin bringing people back in – though we are taking small, cautious steps in the process.”

Once a patient has been taken back to surgery, their loved one can wait in the Same Day Surgery waiting area, which has been reconfigured to allow for proper social distancing. After surgery, the visitor will meet with the surgeon to discuss their loved one’s surgery, and then will be required to leave the hospital. They will be called to pick up their loved one after recovery.

Each visitor will be screened for temperature before entering, and like all our team members and patients, will be required to wear a mask while inside the hospital. For their safety, doctors do recommend the family member or friend be in a low risk group.

If a patient does not have a visitor present, family and friends can monitor the surgery through a Surgery Tracker on the BRG mobile app. The Surgery Tracker allows you to see your loved one’s progress every step of the way, from anywhere.

Surgery patients enter through a special entrance of the hospital and are fast tracked through a touchless registration process before being escorted through a “safe” path to surgery by a team member.